Schedule

The 2018 schedule was announced in March 2018. The schedule is essentially identical to the one introduced in 2017, and consists of 100 games for each team, with an even split of 50 home games and 50 away games. Every team will play every other team within their division a total of 14 times (7 home, 7 away). Teams will play opposing division teams a total of 8 times (4 home, 4 away). There will also be a 4-game home-and-home series played against an interleague team.

The season started on May 13, and is scheduled to end on September 7.

This was the last season played out in the game in "real-time" meaning the season actually began in April of 2018, and ended September of 2018. After this season, the league moved to a modified "fast-sim" where the 2019 season (in-game) would begin by October of 2018 (in actuality).

Managerial changes

General managers

Offseason

Matt Johnson was fired on October 2, 2017, after four seasons as the Arizona Cowboys GM. The team had finished in last place in each of those seasons. Johnson had a reputation for blowing the budget on international free agents, but saw little return as the minor league development lay neglected year after year. Josh Lander was interim GM until Kevin Norris was hired on November 17, 2017.[1][2][3]

Aaron Thompson was demoted to assistant GM after the team hired sparkplug GM/manager Josh Hicks, who immediately set to work convincing ownership to relocate the team to Louisville, KY, as part of a part overhaul of the team. Thompson had been a GM of the organization since 2015, and briefly stepped to the Assistant role in May of 2017 when William Shea took over for the opening of the 2017 season. But Shea quickly left, and it was Thompson who drafted top names such as Ben Price, and Les Groves in the 2017 Bull League Draft, and also signed 1B Setsuo Kimura to a 2-year, $15.8 million deal.

Ernst McAlister was fired on December 31, 2017, and replaced by Troy Vogel. McAlister had come to Kingston on October 11, 2017, after a lengthy career with the Boston Brawlers as GM, where he turned the team around from its lackluster early years, and brought them to four playoff appearances between 2009 and 2016. He was then named Team Canada GM for the Summer College Tournament, where the team went 2-1 and won the tournament championships. However, Vogel convinced the Kingston Cannons he was ready to take the team in a new direction, to coincide with their planned move away from the Lake League, and McAlister's 5-year contract was bought out before he was able to implement any major changes.

Smith was GM and manager of the Metros through 2017, and briefly managed The Netherlands in World Cup of Baseball, but resigned due to family reasons. Rookie GM Danny Desrochers, a native of Montreal, took over the team during Spring Training, 2018.

On January 19, Bob Weinberg announced he was taking a hiatus from the GM and manager role with the Fighting Moose, and Assistant GM Dylan Hall has stepped up to replace him in the interim. Hall was previously the GM of the Hamilton Industrials/Hamilton Crusaders from 2006. He was made assistant GM with the arrival of Weinberg prior to the 2017 season. Weinberg led the Moose to their first playoff since 2015, taking the team to a 54-46 record and a wild card spot in the LL. He was also the GM who brought Nick Seer and Lou Bricknell to the Moose in 2017.[4] There is no word on when he may be returning.

The team brought in new blood to try to ride the upward momentum and get a playoff berth for 2018. Perelli previously worked as Assistant GM under Rex Randy, who was GM through the 63-37 run in 2017. He was made GM after the departure of Randy in August, and it was Perelli who signed 2B Jesse Nelson to a 2-year, $31.6 million contract extension in the fall, and who engineered the Mike Jennings trade with Battle Creek. Ryan Vallis was also extended 4-years at $30.8 million. Under Perelli, the club made three big free agent signings: Reliever Bill Henson, who signed a 2-year deal at $5.36 million; Ricky Jalapeno at 2 years and $28.8 million; and 3B Hoshi Mizuguchi at $17.9 million over 2 years.

In-season

Norris resigned due to personal reasons midway through June, after accumulating a 19-24 record as GM. Norris had notably signed Barry Janmaat to a one-year, $1 million deal last December, and in March traded minor league outfielder Andy Creeps and minor league shortstop Chris Crockett to Toronto in return for reliever Kevin Faith, which was seen as a good move for Arizona's bullpen. But Norris had effectively handed over major decisions to Meadows, who was Assistant GM at the time, by draft day in June.

Thompson returned to the GM role after Hicks suddenly resigned at the end of June 2018. Before his resignation, Hicks led the Sluggers to a 15-27 (.357) record over the opening two months of the season, and 14-22 (.389) during spring training.

O'Brien hung up the towel midway through the season citing personal reasons, leaving assistant GM David Cuellar to run the club. Under O'Brien, the Salts were 38-31. During his time at the helm, O'Brien was responsible for adding reliever Sam Quinn to the bullpen, where he has been an effective innings-eater, as well as drafting Dylan Rodrigues out of Anguilla Prep with the team's first draft pick, in round 2.

Major events

Collective bargaining agreement

A new CBA was signed during the off-season and preseason, which came into effect for the 2018 season. Among the changes:

League minimum salary increased to $535,000

Disabled list reduced to 10-days (from 15-days) for minimum days off 25-man roster, with no change to the 60-day list and days off 40-man roster

Hall of Fame Induction

On January 7, 2018, pitcher Jacques Papierclip was inducted into the Bull League Hall of Fame in a Seattle Salts uniform

One player was inducted into the Bull League Hall of Fame for 2018, pitcherJacques Papierclip. The former starting pitcher, who was named an all-star eight times during his career, and won a batting award, was inducted after receiving 82.5% of the votes in his second year of eligibility.

Papierclip amassed a win-loss record of 98-66 through 17 seasons in the Bull League, in which he played for Chicoutimi, Seattle, Hamilton, Richmond and then Nevada. He was regarded as one of the best two-way pitchers, having started in the era before the DH rule, and won the Gold Crown Award in 1997 after batting .270 with a home run and three doubles in 39 plate appearances that year. His 5 career homers leads all pitchers except for Dick Slurve (who missed election to the Hall this year by just 0.2% of the votes).

The left-handed Papierclip spent eight seasons with the Seattle Salts, and still holds numerous team records, including single season ERA (1.86 set in 2003), career ERA (2.89), career wins (50), career WAR (22.3), along with career records in starts, shutouts, innings, and WHIP.

The Toronto Nomads were moved from the LL West to the LL East. Their stadium did not change, but it was renamed from Portlands Stadium to GTAGunSafety.com Stadium.

The Rimouski Fighting Moose were moved to the LL East from the LL West. They were to have been moved to that division last year, but the schedule had already been set and thus the team spent 2017 in the West.

The Heifer League playoffs began on August 17th. The Tampa Tempest of the Pasture League's East Division won the Heifer Cup, the league's championship, after defeating the Barn League's Cedar Defenders's three games to one.

Calf League (A)

The Single-A Calf League opened on May 27. Their 82-game regular season ended on August 22. There was no All-Star Game for Single-A. However, this level plays a split season format. The teams who qualify for the playoffs are the division leaders at the end of each half.

College and High School Leagues

Pacific Rim College League

The Pacific Rim College League (PRCL) season began on January 15, and ended on March 16. The season was followed by a two-round playoff. The two conference, four division PRCL plays a 54-game schedule, and the playoffs include only division leaders, with no wild card qualifiers.

The PRCL 2nd annual All-Star Game took place on February 13. The Japan-Korea Conference (JKC) All-Stars defeated the Australasia-Oceania Conference (AOC) All-Stars 4-0, evening the series between the two conferences at 1-1.[5]

In the Conference Round, the Central Chicago Prep Bankers, who had earned the bye with their first place finish, faced Niagara Academy, defeating them 2-1, and advanced to the High School World Series. The Gunners beat the International Conference's leader, Cancun HS Cervezas, in the best-of-three round, 2-1. The Gunners faced the Bankers in the World Series, but lost in two straight games. The Bankers were crowned the second World Series champions for the Nor-Am High School league on April 14.